Already, there’s buzz around University of California President Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona and Homeland Security secretary, and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, now teaching at UC Berkeley and a star endorser of the Ready for Hillary political action committee.

Granholm still doesn’t regard Michigan’s incentives for battery makers as wasted money. “Just because the jobs haven’t happened ‘yet,’ it doesn’t mean that cracking the code to vehicle batteries was the wrong strategy,” said Granholm, who is teaching at the University of California-Berkeley.

Jennifer Granholm quoted in The New York Times, February 12, 2014
As former Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, a Democrat, told me: “Politics is so far behind the other sectors, I guess because in a democracy you have to appeal to the broadest spectrum in order to get elected. People still expect a more traditional thing from female politicians. Calling a man ambitious is seen as a positive thing. With a woman, it’s a negative.”

Maria Echaveste and Jennifer Granholm cited in San Francisco Chronicle, January 23, 2014
Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor … will co-chair the Priorities Action USA political action committee…. law Professor Maria Echaveste, White House deputy chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, was also named Thursday to the PAC’s 14-member board.

“I want to elect a president who will appoint a Supreme Court justice who will overturn Citizens United so there is no necessity or no legality for this unfettered flow of money,” said Granholm.

Granholm said that as the former governor of Michigan, she was inspired to format the class’s final as policy proposals to offer politicians innovative solutions to political challenges without reinventing the wheel.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has a hard time convincing her public policy students at UC Berkeley to go into public service. “Why,” they ask her, “would we go and try to get a job in D.C., where nothing is getting done or worse-than-nothing is getting done, when the action is in the private sector? These are the people who are making a difference in people’s lives.’” Washington, she said, “is becoming completely irrelevant.”

“If this could be seen as a job creation and climate change strategy, you would see overwhelming penetration. When the President did this for education, 48 out of 50 states raised their high school standards. That’s almost universal penetration. If you had 48 or 50 states put in place a clean energy standard, you would see a national energy strategy from the bottom up.”

She’s on a crusade to establish a national clean energy policy framework, one that would be powered by states and metropolitan regions…. “Every state would have something to contribute. Every state has some kind of asset,” she says. Midwestern states might innovate in wind power, while the southwest and California would naturally embrace solar. The Northeast might excel in energy efficiency, Michigan in electric car batteries, and other regions in geo-thermal, nuclear power, or clean natural gas.

Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm announced she is leaving Current TV and her public affairs program The War Room following the purchase of the cable network by Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant that the government of Qatar finances.”We were told today that Al-Jazeera is the buyer for Current TV,” Granholm said in a posting on her Facebook page…. Granholm has been considered one of the network’s leading personalities.

Munich RE is an insurance company: what progressives often consider a methodical, calculating, machine using cold, heartless data to maximize profits. In a report to fellow insurance companies, Munich RE noted that the number of weather-related losses had quintupled over the past thirty years. In October, the company said, “Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America.”

In order to keep America competitive — in order to remain “exceptional” — we must leverage the key strand of our national DNA: our global diversity. Our major national competitors are mostly homogeneous. Our diversity is our competitive advantage. Our blend of people and cultures and talent and perspectives can keep us the strongest, the smartest, the most advanced nation on Earth — if we have the right immigration policies.

I’m loath to give the Republicans advice, but I’d humbly suggest that rather than giving their organization an uncomfortable exam just to change their tone, technology and turnout, they consider changing their ideas. And I’d suggest they start by looking at their position on freedom. The Republican Party has a major credibility gap on that issue. Why? The Republicans are for free enterprise, but not free people. And that is their fundamental problem.

When Christie praises the president for working with him in a crisis, it gives me hope that maybeeven congressional Republicans might work with President Barack Obama in a second term. Call me Pollyanna, but if partisan, sharp-elbowed Christie canwork with the president, maybe all hope is not lost for D.C. Crisis might even bring the staunchest D.C. partisans together to serve a common American purpose.

“That pivot point and how long it takes before you get to that pivot is absolutely critical,” said former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, host of Current TV’s “The War Room” and a visiting professor at UC Berkeley who helped Vice President Joe Biden prepare for his 2008 debate with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “If you don’t answer any of those incoming Scuds, then those are charges that are left unanswered. And that was part of the problem the president had” in the first debate with GOP nominee Mitt Romney, Granholm said.

“I think the challenge is going to be not to appear too wonky,” Granholm said. “Both he and Paul Ryan have that challenge. “For Biden, because he is so loquacious, the challenge for him in this debate is how to deliver a message in the format. That was a tough thing for him before,” Granholm said.

Inspired by my Current TV colleague Eliot Spitzer’s four debate questions in a column for Slate, here are 10 additional questions for both candidates…Bonus questions for Romney: 1) If you had $50 to last for an entire week, which would you buy: a) groceries; b) gasoline so you could get to work; c) prescriptions for your child’s illness?

“That pivot point and how long it takes before you get to that pivot is absolutely critical,” said former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, host of Current TV’s “The War Room” and a visiting professor at UC Berkeley who helped Vice President Joe Biden prepare for his 2008 debate with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “If you don’t answer any of those incoming Scuds, then those are charges that are left unanswered. And that was part of the problem the president had” in the first debate with GOP nominee Mitt Romney, Granholm said.

“I think the challenge is going to be not to appear too wonky,” Granholm said. “Both he and Paul Ryan have that challenge. “For Biden, because he is so loquacious, the challenge for him in this debate is how to deliver a message in the format. That was a tough thing for him before,” Granholm said.

With respect, Mr. President, when you walk on stage in the next debate I would like to hear you say that the choice is not just about whose tax plan you like or who has the better health care strategy. It’s much more fundamental than that. This is a choice about our national character.

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